Friday, September 27, 2013

On September 26, the Russian service of the Polish Radio announced in its mailbag program that starting from October 27 the station will no longer broadcast on SW. It seems that their SW broadcasts in Polish and Belarusian will be terminated too.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

VOA Radiogram for the weekend of 21-22 September 2013 is produced using Fldigi3.21.76AB. For best results, use this version, available from www.w1hkj.com/alpha/fldigi/v3.21/

One improvement in 3.21.76AB is that it can send images in MFSK64 and MFSK128. Previously, MFSK32 was the fastest MFSK mode for sending images without the pictures appearing skewed (off center). Images do not transmit more quickly in MFSK64 and MFSK128, but they do have higher resolution.

If your decoded MFSK64 and MFSK128 images are still slanted or skewed, calibration of the receive codec might be helpful. One such method for doing this is described here: www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp-3.21/DigiWWV.html.

Our non-Latin alphabet of the week is Greek. You will need the UTF-8 character set for the Greek and for some of the punctuation in the English items. I forgot to change some of the typographic apostrophes ’ to typewriter apostrophes ’ , so they will not display correctly if you do not have the UTF-8 character set. In Fldigi, that adjustment is made in Configure > Colors & Fonts.

This weekend’s program includes an English VOA News item in Flmsg format. When all the text is received, the story will render, or pop up, as a new web page on your browser, suitable for saving or forwarding. To make Flmsg work with Fldigi (both can be downloaded from w1hkj.com), in Fldigi: Configure > Misc > NBEMS — Under Reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located.

Much of the show this weekend is in the MFSK64 mode, which might be a bit optimistic if reception conditions are less than ideal.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The degradation of Greek Radio is going on, having shortwave radio "Voice of Greece" as a victim. This includes 39 shortwave antenna masts hosted in Avlis, which the government plans to sell as scrap metal.

The shortwave service started 75 years ago and it is still transmitting in 5 frequencies that cover the globe with shows in Greek for expatriates and foreign language news. The facilities are currently controlled by redundant ERT employes and broadcast the guerilla service of the Greek National Radio ERA. Eighteen months ago, shortwave facilities in Thessaloniki were dismantled.

According to a statement by ERT employees, on Monday morning "in the shortwave broadcasting center of Avlis, a representative of a company that sells metal showed up and started taking photos of the site. After we, ERT people, asked him, we got informed that he had been mandated by the Ministry of Finance to give an offer for the dismantling of 39 masts and purchasing the metal as scrap." The name of company and the registration plate of the car are available.

The union body of ERT notes that this is an area of 1160 acres, featuring 39 metal masts, with a height between 30 and 70 meters each, that function as the shortwave aerials that transmit the "Voice of Greece", the ERA-pénte, across the world.

"Greek shortwave started operating in 1938 and later was also used sent information to the Greek soldiers fighting Fascists in Albania. The only ones who dared to turn it off were the Nazis during the occupation. Since the liberation, it never stopped to link the country with Greek seafarers and the Diaspora. The Voice of Greece broadcasts information, entertainment, culture and tradition from Greece with programs in 12 languages, all over the globe".

It is true that big broadcasters in Europe have decided to stop broadcasting via shortwave, because of cuts and because alternatives tuning possibilities are provided due to the development of technology. On the other hand, in the case of Greece. there are still generations of Greek immigrants abroad and seamen who are still affiliated with shortwave, whereas area around Greece the are still countries with low technological development. Also, it is outragious that the decision to remove an entire radio service was taken by the liquidator of the Ministry of Finance: there is no study about ceasing shortwave by any official body, although the promise was that the future of Greek broadcasting will be decided after an analysis performed by the administrative Board of the new official broadcaster.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Here is my extended log for the last night. There was an unexpected power outage for a few hours starting at 2 o'clock local time. The noise floor (it's not that high here) dropped to zero and it was a real pleasure for me to scan the bands.

2325: Chaine 3 from Algeria with excellent signal on 252 kHz. A program of oriental music and occasional talk. SINPO: 45544

2327: Galei Zahal is off the air on 6885 kHz. Checked all other frequencies, including 6973, 7635, 9235, 10340, in case of a frequency change, but found nothing on them too. 15850 is off the air during nighttime.

2330: Excellent signal from WWCR Nashville on 13845. A Bible reading program program of a male preacher. SINPO: 55555

2330: AIR National Channel in Hindi with excellent signal on 9425 kHz. A program of Hindustani music.

Tajik Radio 1 in Tajik language with excellent signal on 4765. Very good modulation. Morning talk program.

2335: Digital utility signal, similar to Link-11, transmitting on 3745 kHz inside the 80 meters ham radio band. The Russian military beacon, well-known as The Pip also transmit in the 80 meters band - on 3756 kHz.

Italians talking in 5050 kHz USB with huge 59 signal. I have no idea what they were talking about. Also no ide if these are licensed mariners or just freebanders.

I also have a good signal from Rebelde (5025) and Radio Habana Cuba (5040) with the usual summertime QRN.

Good signal from Radio Clube Do Para on 4885 kHz. SINPO: 45343

Russian pirates (also known as radio hooligans) are talking in AM in the lower part of the 3MHz. Most of them are pretty strong but with instable carriers and a bit scratchy audio. Among the frequencies I logged last night are: 3010, 3020, 3050, 3085, 3105, 3130, 3150, 3165. Also found Russian pirates making QSOs on 6666 kHz.

Olympia Radio on 2799 kHz USB with good signal. A female voice reading sets of numbers in Greek, probably coordinates?

Monday, September 9, 2013

We are contacting you as we are selling our 100 kW SHORTWAVE TRANSMITTER and accompanying equipment and thought that you may be interested. The equipment is fully functional and was in use until recently.

2245: Two CNR-1 transmitters are on the air to block Sound of Hope, the weaker one with a few seconds delay. SINPO: 54544

2255: Galei Zahal IDF Radio. Overnight programming with music. SINPO: 454442300: Voice of Russia World Service in English on 9465kHz with excellent signal. Long music segment into time pips and ID, followed by news bulletin. Items about the local elections in Russia and the Syrian conflict. SINPO: 555552304: Radio Farda with a program of Persian rap music. Excellent signal on both 5860 and 7585. Various frequency lists show both are from Iranawilla at that time. SINPO: 555552310: Excellent signal on 7350 kHz with news and reports from CRI. Item about large scale protests against the US intervention against Syria. It's good to hear US citizens are waking up and standing against their government.2321: Massive signal from a STANAG-4285 transmission on 7490 kHz while 7407 and 7555 kHz are of the air. This reminds me that this is a good possibility to try KJES Vado on 7555 kHz in the next few days on my DX Camp, if the frequency is still clear.2326: RF9C calling "CQ Contest" in the 40 meters ham band. Fair signal with some QSB.2332: Empty carrier with strong buzz on 5000kHz. I suspected it to be IBF Torino, but there wasn't any CW ID on the top of the minute, nor any announcements. This one needs further ckecks.2337: Shannon Volmet on 5505 kHz with meteorological bulletin in USB. Suffering from interference from a very strong Link-11 digital transmission a few kHz up. The propagation on the lower bands last night was awesome with loads of utility stations, including SSB, CW, RTTY and plenty of digital modes (SITOR, STANAG 4285, Link-11, CODAR).2341: Good signal from WTWW on 9479 kHz with very strong heterodyne from China National Radio 11 on 9480 kHz.

CNR-1 signals on 31 meters band at that time:

9455 kHz. SINPO: 55555, from Lingshi transmitter site.

9805 kHz. SINPO: 54554, from Nanning transmitter site.

9815 kHz: SINPO: 53544, probably against Radio Free Asia in Tibetan which lasts only until 2315. The Chinese nation is a rich one and one more transmitter on the air is not a problem.

9875 kHz: SINPO: 54554, against Radio Free Asia in Tibetan from a 250kW unit in Dushanbe-Orzu.

2354: A lot of Russian amateur stations, mostly from European Russia, in the lower part of the 40 meters ham band, greeting each other with good morning and exchanging signal reports. Most of them are 59s. 2354 UTC means 0354 local time in Moscow. It seems that most Russians are early risers, despite most of them have probably drank a bottle of vodka before going to bed.

0000: WHRI suffering from a strong interference from a utility station in RTTY. Does anyone care what QRM are such in-band transmissions causing? I suppose no.

Other US stations audible are 4840, 5085, 5920, 5935, 6875, 11520, 12105. No signal on 9930 until 0000 or it had been under the OTHR that was occupying that part of the band.

More logs to follow later. The equipment used was Sony ICF-7600D portable with 20 meters wire antenna.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

1330: Excellent signal on 17820 kHz from RTE Radio One coverage on the All-Ireland Hurling finals. Commentary until 1345, followed by interruption for commercials and reading letters from listeners all over the world, even one from Kampala, Uganda! RTE News at 1400 and more coverage on the finals afterwards. Any suggestions for the transmitter site of this broadcast? SINPO: 55555

1400: The usual excellent signal from the Sunday-only transmission of Beacon of Hope on 15205 kHz out of Germany. Gospel music into a Christian prayer, reading listeners from Germany, Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania. The rest of the program was reading the Book of Revelation. SINPO: 55555

1405: Radio Taiwan International in Russian out of Issoudun with the usual very good signal. News item about the US position on the Taiwan sovereignty. Why the U.S. should comment on the Taiwan-China relations at all?

1410: Very strong signal from Voice of Korea in French. Communist marches into news with the usual audio mix-up. Couldn't recognize the other language underneath because of the noise, probably coming from the jammers that are transmitted from the same site (Kujang). SINPO: 55553

1415: Huge signal on 15410, non-stop talk in Chinese. Frequency lists show this is the usual suspect - China Radio International in Chinese, 500kW from Kashi. SINPO: 55555

1417: Radio Belarus in Belarusian on 11730kHz is a bit undermodulated, as always. Does anyone care about it? Local estrada music at the time I tuned in. SINPO: 55554

1420: Radio Sultanate de Oman is putting a huge signal on 15140kHz. English service with a kind of a radio play. In the recent months, the signal of Oman's all transmissions improved drastically. It seems they have done some work on their antenna systems or have increased power. All their transmissions are putting huge signal into my QTH, no matter what band or time of the day. However, the 15140 kHz broadcast is suffering from splatter from the IRIB VOIRI scratchy audio on 15150 kHz which is even stronger.

1425: A quick look at the 13 meters band shows that most of the stations there are booming in. 21505 Saudi Arabia, 21515 Spain, 21540 Kuwait, 21610 Spain are with excellent signal. 21630 from Ascension is putting a quite good signal. Empty carrier on 21665 for a few minutes, then off.

1743: BBC World Service with good signal on 17830 kHz, 250kW from Ascension. Excellent programming including "Sports world". SINPO: 45444

The equipment used was Sony ICF-7600D portable with 20 meters wire antenna.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Thank you for responding to the test broadcasts KVOH conducted on 17775 kHz a couple of months ago. We were happy that our transmitter performed well, but were disappointed with the propagation conditions that make use of 16 metres challenging at the present time. However, we have also been working hard to restore a second transmitter to operate on 31 metres (a band we have not operated on for over 6 years). That work is nearing completion, and we would like to run two more evening tests to see how the tx is performing.

Accordingly, we would very much appreciate your reception reports (or preferably, recordings) of the tests we will be running on 9975 kHz on Friday and Saturday evenings this week. The exact times are:

Saturday 7th 0100-0400 UTC

Sunday 8th 0100-0400 UTC

In North and Central America, that would be this Friday and Saturday evenings, 8-11pm Central, 9pm-12am Eastern. The test program will be similar to last time, but not exactly the same. It will contain segments in both English and Spanish.

The transmitter site is near Los Angeles, and here it is currently getting dark at about 0230 UTC (7:30pm local). Therefore, during the first half of these tests, the transmission path will be increasingly in darkness, and for the last 90 minutes or so will be in complete darkness. Please let us know what reception sounds like at your location as the evening progresses, and also what type of receiver and antenna you are using.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Radio Free Asia (RFA) announces the release of our 17th anniversary QSL card.
RFA’s first broadcast was in Mandarin on September 29, 1996, 2100-2200 UTC.
Acting as a substitute for indigenous free media, RFA concentrates its coverage on events occurring in and/or affecting the countries where we broadcast; they are: Burma, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Peoples Republic of China, and Vietnam. RFA does not express editorial opinions but provides news, analysis, commentary, and cultural programming. A combination of U.S. government-operated transmitters and a variety of shortwave leased facilities support RFA. This card will be used for all valid reception reports from September 1 – December 31, 2013.

RFA’s 17th Anniversary QSL card.

RFA is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information to listeners in Asian countries where full, accurate, and timely news reports are unavailable. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean to North Korea, Lao, Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), and Uyghur. RFA strives for accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content. As a ‘surrogate’ broadcaster, RFA provides news and commentary specific to each of its target countries, acting as the free press these countries lack. RFA broadcasts only in local languages and dialects, and most of its broadcasts comprise news of specific local interest. More information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at www.rfa.org.

RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports.

Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at http://techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX’ers, but also from its general listening audience. If you have a smart phone, feel free to use the QR code below to access the automated reception report system and submit your reception reports to the web site. You also have the option of using the following Microsoft Tag from your smartphone. The free mobile app for your smartphone is available at http://gettag.mobi.

Reception reports are also accepted by email at qsl@rfa.org, and for anyone without Internet access, reception reports can be mailed to:

After much thought and negotiation we regret that we have decided to end our satellite broadcasts on 30th September 2013.

For a long time there have been reception problems that sadly cannot be remedied and this has led to a further decline in our audience on this platform, with those who listen exclusively via satellite falling to a tiny percentage.

Our service provider, whilst not responsible for the reception difficulties, has agreed to release us early from our long-term contract as a goodwill gesture. We have mutually agreed that this course of action is in the best interests of the both of us.

Our first project following closure of the satellite service will be to launch a brand new on-line radio station to be called Caroline Extra. Click the banner below for more details about this new service which will launch before the end of the year. Otherwise we will be pre-occupied preparing and relocating our ship before considering how we may further expand our broadcasting activities.

If this decision affects you directly please contact our advice service. We will do our best to help by suggesting alternative methods you can use to continue listening to Radio Caroline. Please email advice@radiocaroline.co.uk

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Guam. The president of the General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists is here on Guam for the completion of their multi-million dollar antenna at Adventist World Radio in Agat.

Pastor Ted Wilson tells PNC about $2.9 million dollars in upgrades were made to the 26 year old KSDA shortwave radio station. He says the new curtain antenna increases their broadcast efficiency and effectiveness by approximately 20%. With the station upgrades done, Wilson notes their coverage has improved to most Asian countries including China, North Korea and India. He explains their programming provides people with better insight on good health, family relationships, interpersonal relationships and spiritual messages on Christianity.

“It really is aiming its beams and transmissions to the Asia Pacific area because of the massive amount of people that live in that area,” said Wilson. “The new tower was constructed with a curtain antenna that is very fine tuned in order to reach many different people groups. So this is basically the 5th antenna that the station will have.”

Wilson adds their station broadcasts in 34 languages for 287 hours per week.

AZERBAIJAN Unmodulated very strong carrier was observed again:
1300-1600+on 9677.6 SPK 010 kW / non-dir to CeAs on Fri, August 30
1300-2000+on 9677.6 SPK 010 kW / non-dir to CeAs on Sat, August 31
AZERBAIJAN An unidentified station, without a carrier and with awful audio and modulation, probably in Azeri, was observed on August 31 and September 1:

Monday, September 2, 2013

In the past hour, I have been monitoring the Syrian radio and television services on satellite regarding the news that the Information ministry of Syria has ordered the Syrian radio and TV to interrupt regular programs and start airing patriotic content such as military music. Here is some up-to-date information:

53.0 east: Express AM22

Provider: TandbergTV

Transponder: 12544H 3000 2/3

SNR: 94%

AGC: 99%

BER: 0

TV Channels: SYRIA SATELLITE CHANNEL

Radio services: NO

30.5 east: Arabsat 5A

No signal on my dish. Intended coverage of the beam is the Mashreq.

7.0 west: Eutelsat 7 West A

No signal on my dish. Intended coverage of the beam is North Africa and the Near East. That's the only transponder that is carrying the external service of Radio Damascus and I can't confirm whether it is active or not. Hopefully, someone within the coverage of the satellite may do so.

8.0 west: Eutelsat 8 West A

Provider: CTN

Transponder: 11054H 22000 1/2

SNR: 92%

AGC: 98%

BER: 0

TV Channels: SYRIA SATELLITE TV, SYRIAN DRAMA

Radio services: NO

11.0 west: Express AM44

No signal on my dish. Intended coverage of the beam is East Africa and the Arabic Peninsula.

Notes: At 2300UTC, the Syrian Satellite Channel was carrying 12 minutes long news bulletin, which was followed by a discussion studio. The Syrian Drama TV channel is retransmitting the Syrian Satellite Channel programming.